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Sunday, 9 June 2013

happily ever after part two

At church this morning I was thinking about books. (See my
post on my writing blog, Happily Ever Afters.) I was thinking about how popular literature is
currently very fantasy based; how it is an escape from real life. The preach at
church was about 'What happens when we die?' and Pete, who was speaking,
focused on how any works you do now, as a work for the Lord, will not be in
vain. He cited 1 Corinthians 15:58, which says, 'Therefore, my beloved
brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.' The preach was very good
and I took a lot away from it, but it made me think about the Bible. As a
Christian, I believe that the Bible is the word of God; that it is His truth.
Pete also talked about hope. Hope doesn't have the answers, nor is it a form of
escapism. But God gives us hope in order that we might persist and persevere;
that what we do now in His name and in hope, will not be in vain. I was also
thinking about how, psychologically speaking, faith seems to fulfil the desires
of the human mind, especially my desires. Many psychologists believe that God
was created by man to fulfil these desires and that believing in Him is just a
fantasy; an escape. But unlike the fantasy books I read to escape from real
life, the Bible is true. It doesn't give us an escape from life; it helps us to
deal with life, with God. It gives us hope. And teaches us to live life in such
a way that, though it isn't perfect, we can be joyful in God. More people
should turn to the Bible rather than fiction, because it is the truth and it
maintains us and gives us hope. Perhaps if we turned to God more, we wouldn't
be so desperate to escape our lives. The only thing the Bible really has in
common with fantasy fiction is the 'happily ever after'.

This post is rather unfocused and probably doesn't make
sense to anyone but me, so I apologise if you think it's a load of rubbish. But
it made sense in my head. In the strange way that things in my head make
sense...